Without Tim Duncan or Kawhi Leonard, both of whom were out of the game for Popovich Reasons, the Spurs had to rely a bit too much on Tiago Splitter, DeJuan Blair and Boris Diaw for their interior defense, leading to a solid inside-outside game for the Timberwolves.

Rubio ended up with 21 points, 13 rebounds and 12 assists, as his insatiable nose for the ball led to board after board, whether it was with nobody around or—inexplicably—in a crowd of big men:

Adelman on Rubio: "I don't know the last time a PG got 12 defensive rebounds...he tracks it down and goes and gets it."

He constantly dished nifty passes to his teammates down in the post or found the open man around the perimeter, as things just went his way all night long.

Six times alreadyRubio has had a game with at least 10 points and 10 assists, only to come up three-or-fewer rebounds short of double figures, and he has had one with double-figure scoring but only nine rebounds and nine assists.

It seems as if this will be the first of many games like this for Rubio, who just knows how to play everywhere on the court.